Saturday, July 21, 2012

Colorado Mass Shooting Day 2

I have been watching the media coverage of
the mass shooting incident today - Interviews of family members,
medical personnel and officials. I saw a trauma surgeon at one
of the receiving hospitals describe the current status of patients taken to
his hospital. He described this as a "mass casualty
incident". One reporter said that people don’t want insanity to
replace evil as a focus of the prosecution.

In an interview that I think surprised the interviewer, a family member talked about the significant impact on
her family. When asked about how she would "get her head around
this" she calmly explained that there are obvious
problems when a person can acquire this amount of firearms, ammunition, and
explosives in a short period of time. She went on to add that she works
in a school and is also aware of the fact that there are many children with
psychological problems who never get adequate help. She thought a lot of
that problem was a lack of adequate financing.

I have not listened to any right wing talk radio
today, but from the other side of the aisle the New York Times headline
this morning was "Gunman Kills 12 in Colorado, Reviving Gun Debate."
Mayor Bloomberg is quoted: “Maybe it’s time that the two people who
want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are
going to do about it,” Mr. Bloomberg said during his weekly radio program,
“because this is obviously a problem across the country.”

How did the Presidential candidates respond?
They both pulled down the campaign ads and apparently put the
attack ads on hold. From the President today: " And if there’s
anything to take away from this tragedy, it’s a reminder that life is
fragile. Our time here is limited and it is precious. And what
matters in the end are not the small and trivial things which often consume our
lives. It’s how we choose to treat one another, and love one
another. It’s what we do on a daily basis to give our lives meaning and
to give our lives purpose. That’s what matters. That’s why we’re
here." A similar excerpt from Mitt Romney: "There will be
justice for those responsible, but that’s another matter for another day. Today
is a moment to grieve and to remember, to reach out and to help, to appreciate
our blessings in life. Each one of us will hold our kids a little closer,
linger a bit longer with a colleague or a neighbor, reach out to a family
member or friend. We’ll all spend a little less time thinking about the worries
of our day and more time wondering about how to help those who are in need of
compassion most."

These are the messages that we usually hear from
politicians in response to mass shooting incidents. At this point these messages are necessary, but the transition from this incident is as important. After the messages of condolences, shared grief, and
imminent justice that is usually all that happens. Will either candidate
respond to Mayor Bloomberg's challenge? Based on the accumulated history
to date it is doubtful.A larger
question is whether anything can be done apart from the reduced access to
firearms argument. In other words, is
there an approach to directly intervene with people who develop homicidal
ideation? Popular consensus says no, but
I think that it is much more likely than the repeal of the Second Amendment.

George Dawson, MD, DFAPA

Barack Obama. Remarks by the President on
the Shootings in Aurora Colorado. July 20, 2012